친절한 살인: ??레이첼??에서의 모성 포기 논란과 역설

Abstract

Angelina Grimkés play Rachel (1916), deals with the story of a middle-class African American family in the 1900s. Rachel, a teenage girl in the play, recognizes brutal racism and physical violence against black children and eventually abandons her dream of marriage and becoming a mother to children. At the time of the premiere, Rachels abandonment of her motherhood was criticized as preaching racial genocide by many black intellectuals of the day. This reaction was the result of interpreting the meaning of the theme from biasedly racial and political viewpoints. This study, distinguishing itself from the existing race analysis which regards this play as race propaganda, explores the meaning of the motherhood theme focusing on the implications of kindness to kill that Rachel suggests as a reason to give up her motherhood. This paper argues that Rachels abandonment of motherhood in reality paradoxically expresses and implements her desire for ideal motherhood.